Missed Connection
by GemNika
Summary: It started with the Stagiaire. Crystal was just some American girl who felt like she didn't belong, and partnered with one of the best chefs in the 92nd Class. How does Ryo help her find her voice, when he doesn't even try? And why does she look at pictures of him seven years later and find herself in tears? (Rated M for future chapters)
1. Partners

**A/N: So I started watching** _ **Food Wars**_ **recently, and I can't wait for the third season to come out. I posted about this on my tumblr, and between the responses from my followers and talking to my husband, I've decided to make this an OC story instead of a Fairy Tail crossover story.**

 **I'm completely out of my comfort zone by breaking into this fandom without it being a crossover, so constructive criticism on canon characters is greatly appreciated. I'm still trying to find these characters' voices, though.**

 **It'll be a chapter story, but I'm not sure how many chapters just yet. And just for those of you who read author notes, please be aware that this story intentionally shifts in tenses and a good portion of it is a series of flashbacks (told in past tense). So, if it's present tense, that means we're dealing with the older character(s), and not when they're in the academy.**

 **So, let's get on with the story! I hope you guys enjoy this plot bunny. I know I said I was going to wait to post this, but I'm hopeless and far too excited to keep it to myself.**

* * *

 _ **Partners**_

* * *

Her days start at four in the morning, but she doesn't want it any other way. Crystal loves waking up when the sun is still down and driving to the restaurant to start baking for the day. At the age of twenty-two, she's as successful as she'd always wanted to be.

But that morning, after she'd finishes icing cakes and testing out new recipes - most of which are still flops - she sits down in the office with her mother and finds something that surprises her.

A scrapbook from her middle and high school years in Japan. She's back home in Florida, and has been for a long time, but there are days that she misses the hustle and bustle of Totsuki Academy. The pressure to perform. How far her culinary skills had been pushed because she knew that she was being compared to others who were the same age as her, but leagues ahead in ability.

"Mom, what's this doing out?" Crystal asks with a fond smile. Her fingers brush across the worn cover and she pulls it into her lap.

"I was looking through some boxes in your old room," her mother says. "Thought you might want to reminisce a little."

Crystal laughs and brings the book to her chest. She's a sentimental fool a lot of the time. But there's one thing from her experience in Japan that always brings tears to her eyes. It wasn't in the beginning, when she'd barely gotten through the entrance exam for middle school. Those few years had been horrible and awkward, and she tried her best to forget them.

What sticks with her the most was later, when she was in her first high school year. Just after the Fall Selection, when they had all been assigned to work experience sites. It was when she'd met him. Ryo Kurokiba.

He was aloof back then. A true enigma.

Her mother pats her shoulder and walks out of the office, leaving Crystal to carefully open the scrapbook and peer down at the first page. At the picture of her fifteen-year-old self, standing in front of a small, quaint restaurant with a boy several heads taller than her. His hair is like pitch, and his tired red eyes peer at the camera from between his disheveled bangs. His arm isn't around her. They hadn't been close enough to even shake hands. They're simply side-by-side, but that had been the beginning for her.

* * *

Crystal's hand smoothed across her apron while she waited for her cakes to finish in the oven. The kitchen was silent, already sparkling from being freshly cleaned and sanitized, and now it was just a matter of time before she could bring her creation to the store owner for him to try out.

It was the second week of the Stagiaire, and she'd been informed that she had to stay in this hell hole to keep helping out.

And she hated it. Mr. Hokotomi was kind of an asshole, to be perfectly honest. At least, he was to her. No matter how much she smiled at his pudgy little face and ignored the sweat glistening on his brow and dripping down to the wire rims of his glasses, he didn't seem to care very much for her existence in his store. But she could be a professional, and this was her way of proving it.

Her partner had been expelled in the first day, and they'd found out that someone from Totsuki was watching their every move when a man dining near the little restaurant's window called for the chef who made his roast beef, then promptly terminated the boy. Apparently, he could smell smoke on the food from Koji's hands, from the cigarette he'd snuck while in the bathroom. Apparently, students could get expelled for smoking.

The timer went off and Crystal pulled three pans from the oven, then set them on the shining steel counter. She reset the timer for fifteen minutes and went about gathering the ingredients she needed for the topping and garnishes. Her hometown famous cinnamon buttercream icing, and blown sugar orbs filled with caramel to cover the three-layer apple pie inspired cake she'd made.

There weren't many students at Totsuki who gave desserts a whole lot of attention. Everyone focused so much on entrees and appetizers, but the most important part of the meal - in Crystal's eyes - was left to "lowly bakers."

She was surprised that she'd even made it to the high school level, considering her specialty really was just baking. Savory and sweet was her favorite flavor combination, and she'd managed to squeak through the initial taste test by dressing up a pineapple upside-down cupcake with a ham-infused honey glaze. It hadn't wowed anyone enough to make their clothes go flying, but it was enough to get her foot in the door.

Still, she had another week at this restaurant, and she'd yet to make a serious contribution to the place. Luckily, they'd given her a sort of free pass the week prior because there hadn't been any complaints about her performance in the kitchen even after her partner for the Stagiaire was expelled. Crystal took the load they should have been sharing, and bore it herself.

The scrape of her wooden spoon in the bowl as she mixed the icing set her into a lulled state of relaxation. Enough so that she could start trying to think of different ways to bring in more business for Hokotomi Eatery. They specialized in Western cuisine, so that gave her a little bit of an edge when it came to preparing the meals for service. But business was dwindling as winter drew closer, and Mr. Hokotomi expected the Totsuki students who came to work for him to fix his problem.

She wasn't a marketing specialist, though. Crystal didn't even have a club she belonged to at school. She kept to her studies and constantly brushed up on her Japanese to make sure she wasn't left in the dust by the students who already knew it and so much more.

Once the icing was finished, Crystal set about starting to boil the sugar and syrup for her blown sugar, another pan for the caramel, then dirty icing the first layer of cake. It didn't have to be perfect between the layers, just thick enough to give the customer a good taste of it with every bite. She set the second layer down carefully, iced again, then put the third layer on top. Next came carving it.

This was her first attempt at making some sort of change in Hokotomi's Eatery. They had frozen pies for their desserts. Nothing more. Nothing to really wow the customers. It made her cringe just thinking about it. But she could change that. And if people found out about the new dessert menu, they might be more inclined to come to the restaurant and try it out. That was why she was making this in the first place. Mr. Hokotomi wanted to taste it before he agreed to put any stock in her opinion on adding a dessert menu.

She put a thin layer of icing around the cake once it was carved into an elegant dome, then transferred it to the refrigerator.

Crystal was so involved in her work that she didn't hear the kitchen door swing open, or two sets of footsteps drawing closer while she pulled and twisted the sugar again and again. She was unaware of two sets of eyes watching her cut strips of sugar and attach them to her small hand pump, then fill the sugar with air. She just needed the shapes for the time being. Once they were done, she could get the caramel that was nearly ready inside, then use her creme brulee torch to seal them.

"What is that?"

If she hadn't had sugar in her hands, Crystal would have screamed and ducked for cover in surprise. Instead, her emerald gaze never left the little orange ball rolling between her gloved hands. "Sugar," she said. "For the cake."

She heard Mr. Hokotomi let out a long sigh through his nose. He just didn't understand. All he needed was someone to do the desserts once a day. With the exception of single-serving desserts, a baker could pound out cakes in no time and leave the kitchen free for the chefs during lunch and dinner service.

"Your partner's here," he said.

Crystal nodded and put another piece of sugar on the pump. "Thank you, sir." He left after that, and Crystal set her focus entirely on the dessert she was making. Orange and red and yellow sugar mixed and blended into ten fiery little orbs. Making the caramel was simple, and she took her time to carefully pour it into the orbs while holding them over a fan so they wouldn't lose their shape from the heat.

If she could just prove that desserts were a worthy investment, maybe that would help Mr. Hokotomi's business. And if his business was helped in any way, then she would be able to pass the Stagiaire and live to see another day at Totsuki Academy.

She hoped.

* * *

Had she known that Ryo Kurokiba was going to be her partner, Crystal might have thought better than trying to impress Mr. Hokotomi with her cake. Had she known that one of the three finalists from the Fall Selection would be sitting beside the restaurant owner and _trying_ a slice of her cake, Crystal most likely would have thrown in the towel before even starting.

Surely she could call her mother back in America and say she'd gotten expelled from the program. Her mother was actually waiting for that call, already knowing how cutthroat Totsuki was, but it was part of the reason Crystal had been so adamant about passing. She wanted to prove that Americans could make it in the culinary world. She wanted to learn everything she could and go back home when this was all done, and help her mother open up a restaurant of their own instead of working at her grandfather's Italian restaurant.

But Ryo was there, eating her cake and even though she felt just a little better about the fact that he hadn't spit it out, he was taking a long time to chew that first piece.

Did that mean it wasn't good? Was he breaking down every flavor and trying to find the faults in it? Was he analyzing her recipe and taking notes on it in his head?

She was so caught up in watching one of the stars of Totsuki eat her food that she completely ignored Mr. Hokotomi. She didn't see the owner's brows draw together or how he looked at his fork just before carefully tapping at the caramel-filled sugar ball.

She was going to be working with a real cooking superstar. What the hell was she supposed to do with that? Ryo was a genius, and Crystal was just… some girl who managed to scrape by unnoticed. She'd heard that he'd gotten through the Training Camp with ease; meanwhile, she hadn't left an impression on anyone, and most people simply forgot she'd cooked for them.

Crystal was still extremely thankful that she'd managed to dodge Chef Shinomiya's courses. If he'd tasted her food, she would have been gone in a heartbeat.

She finally pulled her gaze away from Ryo to look at Mr. Hokotomi, just when his gaze lifted to stare at her. "H-How is it?"

"What is this?" he asked, pointing to the ball.

"Oh, uh…" Crystal shifted slightly and caught Ryo in her peripherals, looking at her. "Well, it's blown sugar filled with caramel. You can break it open and eat it by itself, or… Um…"

"Or?"

"Y-You can pour it on, um… O-On…"

Ryo looked down at the fiery red and orange orb, then broke it over the cake. The caramel seeped down into the filling and he took a slow bite. Once he swallowed, he blinked and looked at Crystal. "You can pour it on the cake and add more moisture to it," he said.

"R-Right!" she squeaked. God, she sounded like a moron. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and finally, her gaze drifted to the floor. No one spoke. The only sounds in the empty restaurant were the soft clink of forks on plates. That had to be a good sign, though. They were still eating.

Maybe it wasn't horrible. Maybe they liked it. Maybe this could be her contribution to the restaurant, and Mr. Hokotomi would put it on the menu, and then-

"I won't feed this to my customers."

Crystal's head shot up to find his cake was barely eaten, and the sugar ball was cracked on the side with caramel dripping down toward the center of the plate. "Sir?"

Mr. Hokotomi frowned and wiped his mouth with a napkin, then stood and walked back toward the kitchen. "This is a waste of time and resources," he said. "I don't have a qualified baker to make this, even if I wanted to give it to my customers."

Crystal turned to watch him walk away, biting back her instant response to tell him to shove his opinion in a very unpleasant place.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. There went that plan. Maybe it was just the wrong type of dessert though. Maybe it was too fancy, too specialized. Blown sugar was a stupid idea. Here she was, wanting to show off for him and the Totsuki officials who were keeping an eye on her, but she'd forgotten the most important part. Whatever changes were made, they needed to be sustainable even after she was gone.

"Damnit," Crystal whispered. Her hands swiped over her face when she felt the first of her tears burning her eyes. No way. She wasn't going to cry over this. The recipe was solid. It was just the wrong place for it.

She took a deep breath and calmed herself down and walked toward the kitchen, leaving Ryo at the table. No one saw him quietly putting a second piece of cake on his plate.

* * *

Lunch service later that day was terrifying. Ryo was so different once that bandana was on his head. Crystal was positive that nothing good could come from the sudden terror that her partner became once he was in "Chef Mode." He yelled and terrorized the staff. There was a deadly aura wafting off of him in droves.

It left her questioning whether this was the kind of drive it took to be a top chef in Totsuki without being one of the Elite Ten. Was this what it took to become one of them?

This was definitely not the quiet teen she'd prepped food with that morning. He'd been silent then. Calm. Almost lazy. He hadn't said two words to her aside from a quiet grunt when she said hello. When he did speak that morning, it was only to Mr. Hokotomi, and he sounded bored out of his mind.

Then the orders started coming in. They were slammed within minutes, and Ryo's bandana flew from his wrist to tie around his head. In a matter of seconds, he was a demon of the kitchen and took control of it all.

"Why are those clams not ready yet?!"

"Coming right now," Crystal called back.

"You're taking too long!"

"Sorry, Chef!"

"I need three daily specials down," Ryo called out from the ticket on the line in front of him. "One subs a white rice, one with extra marinara, third with no garlic."

"Specials, heard!" the staff called out in unison.

"White rice, heard!"

"Marinara, heard!"

"No garlic, heard!" Crystal called back.

"And where in the hell are those clams?!" Ryo shouted.

"Clams up!" Crystal called back. She whirled in place and set the bowl on the counter beside him then turned back to her station to start working on her portion of the daily special.

"You'll move faster than that, or you'll get the hell out of my kitchen!"

"Yes, Chef!" she called back.

It went on for hours. By the time the lunch rush was done, Crystal was exhausted. Her nerves were shot. She'd been in kitchens busier than this one - though she'd never been working in them before - and no one had ever yelled so much. The chefs back home didn't intimidate people into performing properly. There was respect across the board.

But Ryo respected no one. He was suddenly the head chef in Hokotomi's Eatery, and everyone else was there to serve his demands.

The only problem? He got results. Food was out faster than ever before, according to the rest of the staff. Ryo was capable of controlling them and making them all an efficient machine. He didn't lose his cool and start messing everything up.

That was all Crystal's doing. And when she thought about it, they still had to get through the dinner rush that would start in a couple hours. There was just enough time to clean and prep more food. There was no time to try and convince Mr. Hokotomi to let her make another dessert and have the customers test it out.

"Crystal." She turned to find the owner standing a few feet from her with a phone in his hand. "One of my waitresses called out. You're on front of the house tonight."

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Good riddance," Ryo spat while wiping down the line. "You're too slow."

Her lips tightened into a line and she bowed to Mr. Hokotomi. Crystal turned back to her station and started cleaning. Just because she wouldn't be in the kitchen didn't mean she wasn't going to pull her weight. She knew how busy it was going to get, so giving the chefs a hand by having everything where it needed to be was her priority.

All she could hope was that it wouldn't be too bad for the rest of the week.

* * *

Ryo preferred silence. He really did, but it seemed no one realized that. Maybe it was just that he wasn't vocal enough about it, or that he just didn't care all that much in general, but the second morning in Mr. Hokotomi's restaurant was so silent he was beginning to question whether he'd gone deaf.

"So, Ryo…"

No, he wasn't deaf. Damn. His gaze shifted just enough to see the petite brunette standing beside him, easily slicing cucumbers and onions. Her chestnut hair was tied up into a relaxed braid and curled around itself to keep it out of her face. "Hm." He went back to marinating the beef they would need for dinner that night.

"You know how we're supposed to make a contribution?"

"Mm."

"Well, I was thinking… What did you do at your last assignment?"

He was silent. It was one of his best qualities, he figured. Ryo let out a slow breath and sprinkled more seasoning across the beef. "Improved business and staff morale," he finally said.

"How?"

His hand lifted and her gaze shot toward his bandana. "That."

"... Oh."

They kept working in silence. It was so different from what he normally had to listen to when he was cooking with Alice. She was a talker, and had a tendency to order him around. Granted, he'd accepted the position as her aide, but that was mostly because she'd offered to get him out of that pub in Denmark. He would have been stupid to turn it down.

Alice knew when he could stand listening to her rambling, and when he really just needed to be by himself in the kitchen. They'd been together long enough that it had become second nature for her to read the subtle clues and give him the peace and quiet he needed. But Crystal's silence was deeper, somehow. It didn't make him uneasy, just more aware of her presence beside him.

"Um, so I had a thought," she said after several more minutes. "A dessert menu."

"..."

"People come here for pretty good food, but then they get fast food level desserts for way too much money," she said. "So, what if we made up a new dessert menu that ranged from elegant to simple, that way everyone has something to suit their tastes?"

Ryo shrugged. "Could work."

He didn't say a word after that, even when she tried talking to him again. She tried making small talk, asking about his techniques for different things he was doing. She seemed eager to learn, but it wasn't his job to teach her. Ryo's only job was to improve this shit hole enough to get through this stage, then get back to school.

He still needed to challenge Yukihira to a food war. Even if it wasn't official. He _had_ to beat that asshole.

Once she was out of the kitchen, Mr. Hokotomi walked in from the office and narrowed his eyes at the door she'd just walked through. "Between you and me, that girl shouldn't be here."

Ryo said nothing. He kept his eyes only on his work. He didn't care if Crystal was expelled for failing the Stagiaire. That was one less person he needed to knock out of his way.

"Little American girl acts like she's so-"

Ryo ignored him after that. He hadn't realized that Crystal was American. Totsuki was diverse enough that he never really questioned where someone was from. Sometimes he could tell, like with the Aldini twins, but usually it was either someone was Japanese, or they weren't.

It didn't matter to him where she came from. It wasn't like she would be around long enough for it to make a difference.

* * *

Crystal looked out across the square through the restaurant's front window, toward the large groups of townsfolk bustling past the building without even taking a moment to glance in their direction. It was dead. Utterly empty.

All the prepping they'd done that morning to get ready for the usual lunch rush would go to waste. But it was a Tuesday, and the same thing had happened the previous week when it had just been her with the other staff members. Of course, Mr. Hokotomi didn't want to listen to her when she'd mentioned maybe holding back on prepping as much until they knew what business would be like that day. Apparently being there for only a week wasn't enough time for her to understand the flux in customers.

Because there was nothing to do - everything was already clean and spotless, and he wouldn't let her do any baking and waste his money - she was getting restless.

She needed to do something. Anything to keep herself occupied. It just didn't seem right to lounge in the kitchen like Ryo was doing. They were supposed to be helping Mr. Hokotomi, not wasting everyone's time.

Crystal turned away from the window and removed her apron while making her way back to the kitchen. She edged past the stool Ryo had commandeered and strode toward the office where Mr. Hokotomi was handling the books. Based on what she knew of accounting, and how her grandfather acted when he was interrupted in the office, Crystal was just a little hesitant to bother him. Still, she wanted to make the most of this opportunity.

So she knocked gently and took a step away from the doorway to give him some space. "Excuse me," she said when he didn't respond. "Mr. Hokotomi?"

"What is it?"

"I was wondering if I could step out for a little while," she said. "I wanted to ask around town and gauge people's responses to the restaurant. Maybe that could help-"

"That's a waste of time," he spat, tossing his pen to the desk and slowly turning to glare at her. "I don't know how things work where you come from, but that's not how we do it here."

Crystal bit her lips and nodded, lowering her head slightly. It had taken a while to get used to the customs in Japan, but she'd learned pretty quickly that bowing even just a little was a step in the right direction. "Of course, sir. I just wanted to help."

"No, you just want to suck up so you can stay at your school," he said. "I know how it works. The only reason I let you stay here instead of having you kicked out last week is because it's free labor."

"Yes, sir. I understand," she whispered.

"I can't believe they even let someone like _you_ into that school. I had assumed Totsuki had standards."

"Only the highest, sir."

"Then why are you even here? Ryo is a genius in the kitchen. All I need is him. You're just dead weight."

Crystal's head lowered a little more and her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Sharp guilt pierced her gut and seeped through her veins. Her eyes slid closed to combat the tears fighting to break past her lashes. "I-I'll try harder, sir."

"Sure you will. Stop wasting _my_ time."

"Yes, sir," she said. God, she wanted to do what her mother had done all those years ago with her grandfather, and tell the guy off. Crystal took a deep, calming breath and backed away from the door, then turned. She was more than ready to hide herself in the bathroom for a little while. Maybe until the end of the night when she could go to the little motel down the street where she and Ryo were staying.

Except there he was, standing right in front of her, looking down at her. Crystal stumbled and her head tilted back to meet his bored gaze. For the briefest of moments, she swore there was a flicker of emotion. When she blinked, it was gone. Maybe she'd just been seeing things.

"Hey," Ryo said, peeking his head around the doorway. "I think she's onto something."

"What's that, Ryo?" Mr. Hokotomi asked.

"Surveying would be a good idea. Maybe the menu's out of touch with the customers for this time of year. I'm going with her."

"But, I said it was…" The older man froze when Ryo's hand shifted and the bandana wrapped around his wrist came into his line of sight.

Ryo turned and started walking away, then paused after several steps to look at Crystal. He didn't say anything, but when she looked at him, she got the feeling that he was telling her to get moving. His lips didn't move. He didn't whisper it or even look impatient. Ryo was just as bored and lazy as he always was.

So why did it feel like she understood what he wanted? Crystal took a hesitant step forward, her eyes narrowing with curiosity when he walked off toward the front of the restaurant. Once outside, she took a deep breath of crisp, fresh air. She loved being in the kitchen, but it was days like this that she ached for. The humidity was lower than back home, and standing in the sun didn't make her feel like she was going to melt at any second, but just a few rays of light casting down on her shoulders had a gentle smile curling her lips.

She looked up at Ryo where he stood beside her, his hands in his pockets. "Thank you," she said softly.

"Hm."

Crystal laughed and started walking down the street. And he followed. And even though she knew Ryo might not be all that forthcoming when it came to talking to people, at least she didn't have to wander around alone.

* * *

After only twenty minutes of trying to talk to random people on the street, she was ready to give up. No matter how good her Japanese was, she was still obviously a foreigner. Crystal had gotten so used to being at Totsuki that she hadn't considered what it might be like out in the rest of the country. At school, no one looked down on her for being an American. No one even noticed it.

She was sure it wasn't like this everywhere in Japan - because she'd read enough articles over the years about the country actually being really nice to foreigners - but after the fourth older woman in a row started muttering about _her kind_ being in the area, Crystal was done. She just wanted to be helpful.

Ryo was so quiet that she'd forgotten he was with her while she collapsed on a bench and dropped her head to her hands.

"What am I supposed to do?" she whispered.

"Do you want me to try?"

Crystal jumped with a small squeak and found him sitting beside her, staring at the sidewalk. "Have you been here the whole time?"

"Yep."

She frowned. "Why didn't you offer to help earlier?!"

Ryo leaned back on the bench and shrugged. "You didn't ask."

"I didn't want to bother you…"

"You said you forgot I was here."

She couldn't really fight that. It had been comforting to know Ryo was with her at first, but he'd made a point of staying out of her way while she tried to survey people's opinions. He'd been so quiet that Crystal felt as though she was on her own. "Well, at first, I didn't want to bother you," she admitted. "But…"

"You forgot I was here," he said again.

"Y-Yeah…" She cringed while glancing at him, more than ready to find her partner was angry with her. Except Ryo still just looked bored. "Sorry."

Ryo stood and pushed his hands into his pockets, then made his way toward a man several feet away who was sweeping the sidewalk in front of his store. Crystal watched with wide eyes for only a moment before scrambling after him so she could write down what was said. Any information they gathered would help them figure out what they could do with the restaurant to help out Mr. Hokotomi.

"What do you know about Hokotomi's Eatery?" Ryo asked.

"The food's alright," the man said, never pausing in his sweeping. "A bit expensive for what you get."

Crystal bit her lips. "U-Um, is there anything you'd like to… to see different?"

The man frowned at her, then looked back to Ryo. "Any changes in the menu or atmosphere that would make you want to eat there?" Ryo asked.

Crystal kept her gaze locked on the notepad in her hands while the man spoke, writing down everything he said. They went down one street and another with Ryo taking the initiative to ask people questions and Crystal doing nothing more than taking notes.

By the time they returned to the restaurant, it was nearly time for the dinner service. Based on how quiet it was when they went inside, very few people had come in for lunch while they were gone. She didn't have time to look over the notes right then, but that night she was going to do just that over a cup of tea. Maybe it would help her figure out how to make a difference in this place.

* * *

Dinner service was a bust. Four customers came in. Once Ryo and Crystal had finished helping the staff clean, they left the restaurant together and made their way toward the motel they were staying in just down the road.

She was silent though, and it made him wonder just what was on her mind. It wasn't as though he would ask her. They were still competing to get to the top spot of the academy, and the last thing he needed was some girl bothering him because he decided to try having a conversation.

Still, he needed to come up with a way to make some sort of improvement in the restaurant.

"Do you have any ideas?" she asked softly. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye to find her staring at the ground. It was strange. She never seemed to meet his gaze for long. He'd grown so used to the way Alice insisted she look him right in the eye. Erina was much the same when she actually spoke to him. Soma and Akira, too. There weren't many people who really avoided looking at him, when he thought about it, but she did.

She didn't look anyone in the eye from what he'd noticed. Crystal almost always had her eyes cast downward, unless she was in the kitchen. Then her focus was solely on whatever she was cooking.

"Mm," he hummed.

"Do you think… maybe… and you can say no," she said. He watched as she pulled the notebook she'd written her notes in from their survey closer to her chest. "Nevermind."

Ryo opened the door to the motel and let her walk in before him. He didn't say a thing when she shuffled down the hall to her room. Just before her door closed, he heard a quiet "Good night."

With a shake of his head, he went into his own room and made his way to the shower. Not long after, he brushed his teeth and got ready for bed. Something would come to him to contribute to the restaurant. He didn't need to force himself to think of anything. The last place had been a piece of cake. All he'd needed to do was whip the owner's son into submission in the kitchen, and control the unruly patrons that were causing trouble. Easy.

But this place? They needed to bring business in and keep it steady. He wasn't going to let some pathetic restaurant be the reason for his expulsion. That was why he'd even mentioned anything to Mr. Hokotomi about Crystal's idea being a good one. He needed to get out of that kitchen and get some fresh air.

Ryo let out a slow breath and closed his eyes, and let sleep take him as quickly as possible. It felt as though he'd only just closed his eyes when there was a knock on his door. A quick glance at the clock showed that it was nearly four in the morning. He rubbed a hand over his face and slowly sat up, then sighed when there was another, more urgent knock at the door.

He didn't care that he was only wearing pajama pants when he answered the door to find Crystal on the other side with her hand raised and ready to knock again. He was exhausted. Four in the morning was far too early to be awake.

He leaned against the jamb and pushed his fingers through his hair while he yawned.

"Sorry for waking you," she said. Her head lowered further than before. "I looked at the notes I got from yesterday, and I was right. I think. But I figured we should talk to see what we can actually do about it. And… Um…"

Ryo's eyes snapped open again to find her finally looking up at him. Right into his eyes. Large jade eyes gazed up at him, wide and innocent. She looked just as tired as he felt. A thin cloth robe covered her sleeping clothes and her brown hair fell in gentle waves past her shoulders. Had he fallen asleep standing up while she was talking to him? It wouldn't be the first time it had happened, but more often than not he was woken up by Alice realizing he wasn't listening, and then she'd start clobbering him.

"Oh, you look really tired," Crystal said with a wince. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have, um… I'll just go."

Ryo's hand snapped forward when she turned to leave, winding carefully around her slender wrist with just enough pressure to stop her. "I'm awake now," he said.

"I shouldn't have bothered you."

"Too late." He let her go and turned back to his room, leaving the door open for her to follow. Eventually the door closed and he collapsed back onto the bed with his feet dangling off the side. "Take a seat."

Ryo listened to her nearly silent shuffle across the room, and forced his eyes open when she sat at the foot of the bed. They were silent for several minutes, and his eyes kept drifting closed only to snap open once again. It was getting harder to stay awake, so he hoped she would hurry up and get to the point of her visit.

"So, um…"

"You have an idea."

Crystal nodded and glanced at Ryo for a moment before looking back at her hands. "There were different responses depending on the ages of people, but the most common was that they wanted better food."

"Not too hard to do," he yawned. "We just make better recipes."

"But the dessert thing…"

Ryo's eyes opened again. The last thing he would have expected was for a baker to actually make it this far at Totsuki. From what he'd overheard Alice and Erina saying one day, there were only two in the history of the school to actually graduate. But he'd tried her cake and it was surprisingly good.

"It just really bothers me that Mr. Hokotomi won't listen," she said. "I know what I gave him was probably wrong. I was trying to show off, and… The recipe was probably off. He didn't even eat the whole thing."

Ryo simply watched her start wringing her hands together.

"But there were a lot of kids around, and kids love dessert. Even if it's just cupcakes. I know I can give the store simple recipes that anyone can do, and the customers will be happier."

"Then do it."

"He won't listen to me," she said. "No one listens to me…" She looked at him again with her eyes shining, but he really didn't know what to say to that. People probably didn't listen to her because she had no confidence. She didn't stick up for herself. If their roles had been switched, Ryo knew that he would have shoved the cake down Mr. Hokotomi's throat until he admitted that it was worth selling in his restaurant.

She groaned and rubbed her hands over her eyes, flopping backward on the bed. He hadn't realized how short she was until they were lying side-by-side and he was able to see her face so close to him. There was at least a foot between them, but he wasn't looking _down_ at her for a change.

It wasn't his job to hold her hand and get her through this though. Ryo could easily fix up the regular menu and get through the Stagiaire. The question was whether that would be enough of a change for the officials that were watching them.

He kept watching Crystal as she stared at the ceiling. How her thin brows furrowed in thought and her lower lip slipped between her teeth.

It wasn't really a horrible idea. That cake she'd made was delicious. It was leagues ahead of the garbage Mr. Hokotomi gave his customers while trying to cut a few corners on expenses. Then again, Ryo had a bit of a sweet tooth.

He didn't realize that he'd been dreaming about just watching Crystal lie beside him, until his eyes opened again to find his bed empty and sunlight peeking between the thin drapes over the window. It made him wonder how long she'd waited before leaving. If it hadn't been for his feet still hanging off the edge of the bed, Ryo would have questioned whether Crystal had actually showed up at all. But he didn't move in his sleep. Years of having only a small cot to sleep on in Denmark had trained him to stay very still, otherwise he'd fall off of it in the middle of the night.

With a soft sigh, he pushed himself up from the bed and stumbled to the bathroom. He still had time to get some breakfast before heading down to the restaurant, and then he could probably (maybe) find Crystal and see if she had a breakthrough on what to do for the Stagiaire.

* * *

She's still in the office, lost in memories of the past, when her mother comes by after the store has opened. Crystal knows that there's still work to be done, but when she looks up to find her mother watching her, smiling at her, she knows that this is one of those days she can take a little break. They don't happen often. It isn't that the store doesn't have enough business.

She assumes it's the look in her eyes that clues her mother in. She just wants to look at the scrapbook for a little while longer. She'll get to work soon, but for now she wants to remember.

Crystal sighs when her mother comes forward and kisses the top of her head before walking back to the front. Her gaze falls onto the page again and her fingers brush across the same picture of herself and Ryo in front of Hokotomi's Eatery. She doesn't have many pictures from Totsuki. She'd had a camera the whole time and always took it with her wherever she went, but most times Crystal hadn't been able to find reasons to get a picture.

She wishes more than anything now that she'd taken so many more pictures. Pictures of her dorm, the academy, the other students. Pictures of Megumi and Soma - though they'd never really been close friends. Pictures of Akira and Ms. Shiomi, from her short time with them, learning about spice ratios to better suit her baking. Pictures of her instructors and the beautiful gardens she sat in more often than not.

She wished she'd gotten more pictures with Ryo. There was a little of everything, but not nearly enough when she thinks about it. Then again, no amount of pictures in a scrapbook would ever be the same as having him in her life.

Crystal turns the page and her lips curl a little higher when she catches the only photograph she has of Ryo wearing his bandana. Screaming at Mr. Hokotomi and brandishing a knife in one hand and a fish in the other. That was when he'd heard her trying to convince the restaurant owner to let her do a test run of a couple desserts and see if customers enjoyed them. Mr. Hokotomo had been refusing left and right.

It's still so strange to think about how little confidence she'd had while in Japan. But that day, something had clicked for her and she still doesn't know what it could have been. She'd grown a backbone and hadn't let Mr. Hokotomo tell her no. And when he tried to slam the door in her face, Ryo jumped in. Then again, he'd also yelled about how she was wasting time out of the kitchen.

Her thumb brushes over the faded flames on his bandana and she has to fight against the tears begging to burn their way down her cheeks. Crystal never forgot him. She misses him, though. Ryo had been the one to give her confidence she now has in spades, even though she knows he hadn't been trying in the slightest.

"Ryo," she whispers. Seven years have gone by since she'd last seen him. It makes her wonder what he looks like now. If he's still as quiet as he'd been when they'd met. Does he still go berserk when he's cooking? Did he ever graduate, unlike her? She wishes every single day that she'd been able to stay at Totsuki longer, if only to be able to spend time with him just one more day.

Because it wasn't until Crystal had boarded the plane heading back to America that she realized she'd never see him again. It wasn't until the wheels on her plane had lifted and she was ascending higher and higher that she realized that what she'd thought was just respect for Ryo's culinary skill, was actually something more.

Crystal sniffles and closes the book, pulling it tightly against her chest. She swipes at her tears and glances at the computer. There was no use searching for him. She's tried it several times over the years. He was never on social media sites. There's nothing about him on Alice's page; Crystal knows because she and Alice are now loosely acquainted through accepting requests and liking or the odd comment on a post here and there.

She's too scared to ask Alice where Ryo may have gone. She's terrified of what might happen if she actually finds him, or searches for him in any way other than the cursory glance here and there. Worst of all is that she doesn't know why she has feelings for a man she doesn't know any longer. He's probably not the same teenager she once knew - and it's a stretch to say she even _knew_ a thing about him - and she's most likely built up this ideal Ryo in her mind over the past seven years.

Her eyes close and her head lowers, and she curls around the scrapbook. "Ryo, where are you now?" she cries softly, unaware that her mother is standing just outside the office.


	2. Just Desserts

**A/N: Hey everyone! I just want to put a quick note here for you guys in regards to this story.**

 **When I'd originally come up with the idea for it, I'd planned on only doing this from Crystal's perspective (trying my hand at just one perspective for a change), including the scenes in the past when she's at Totsuki. Kind of like she's reminiscing. And then I decided to just do it differently. The present sections (when she's an adult) will be her perspective only. The past (at Totsuki) will be a combination of perspectives, depending on which character I feel like focusing on for the scene. So, rest assured, you guys will also get some of Ryo's perspective in this, instead of just Crystal's.**

 **Also, let me know what you think of it switching between present (in the beginning and end of the chapter) to past tense for the bulk of the chapter. I don't really write in present tense, so that's a challenge all on its own for me.**

* * *

 _ **Just Desserts**_

* * *

The next day, the scrapbook is still sitting on her mother's desk in the office. Regardless of how much Crystal wants to spend the wee hours of the morning before the store opens looking through those pages again, she can't start slacking. The restaurant needs her. She still has desserts to finish and set up in the display case. She still needs to decide on what the special is going to be that day - which Crystal is fully aware that she should have done it the day before, but she'd been a bit distracted all day - and then actually get it prepped.

"Morning, Crystal," Maria, the first waitress they'd hired when they'd opened the restaurant, mumbles around her cup of coffee while sitting beside the cash register. Her sinfully straight black hair is still hanging down around her shoulders. Knowing Maria, she'd barely had time to brush it before getting her two teenage boys out of the house for the bus at half-past four.

She smiles at the older woman nursing her daily dose of energy. "First cup?" she asks, and Maria simply nods. Her eyes close as she takes a sip, and Crystal is amazed by how serene she looks. When Maria's eyes open again, they're just a little brighter than before.

"My boys are lazy assholes in the morning," Maria sighs. She's still smiling though, and after a moment it changes to one that Crystal knows her mother wears when talking about her. "But they're doing so well at that private school in Pasco. It's gonna take them far."

"I'm glad they're doing well there." And she really is. Maria works two jobs just so she can pay the tuition for both of her sons go attend one of the best private schools near them. It's really no wonder she's so tired all the time. And suddenly, Crystal remembers what her own mother had needed to endure just to send her to Totsuki. She'd had to go crawling back to Nonni Giuseppe and work at his restaurant the entire time Crystal had been at Totsuki, even though she wanted nothing to do with him or his comments on her lack of a husband to take care of them.

Her grandfather had been the one to foot the bill for Crystal's tuition, saying that he'd worked hard to care for his family, and there was no way he'd let his youngest granddaughter not have such an amazing chance to become a famous baker.

"Well, I bet they'll do better than I did at my old school," Crystal laughs. Maria smiles into her coffee, shaking her head. It's no secret to the employees in the restaurant what school she's talking about. Her mother loves telling people that she was a student at Totsuki Academy in Japan, both because of how hard it is get in and because her daughter spent the entire summer before leaving to fly overseas learning Japanese.

"I still can't believe you got expelled from that place, though," Maria says. "Did you get into a fight or something?"

"Nah, that's not how it works there." Crystal finally comes around the counter and pours herself a mug of hot water, then grabs a tea bag from under the counter. It's one of her few vices that she's willing to pay extra for, but having authentic _genmaicha_ tea reminds her of the time she spent in Japan. "If you're not the best, you get the boot. I wasn't the best by a long shot."

"People love your food though," Maria says.

"Sure, but we're also not some five-star restaurant. We're the epitome of American cuisine."

"Burgers and fries?" Maria snorts. "I think we're a little better than that."

"Okay," she laughs. "We're American and Italian… A mish-mash of Western cuisine in general."

"And your cakes. Can't forget those."

Crystal rolls her eyes at the wistful sigh from her coworker. Maria isn't the only one who works there that had a sweet tooth. Hell, most of the customers end up coming in just for dessert. On occasion, she still considers simplifying the menu to make it a dessert restaurant with a side of a delicatessen - having light, small meals for the people who want to eat, but focusing on the desserts instead.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me," Maria says while pouring herself another coffee and adding far too much sugar to it. "I've talked with your mom, and those special orders you do keep the books in the black."

"Crystal," her mother calls from the kitchen. She winces and grabs her tea.

"Speak of the devil," she says, and gives Maria a playfully feigned shoulder slump to show just how much of a hardass her mother isn't while walking toward her mother's voice. She loves that she's able to wake up every single day and do the one thing that makes her feel fulfilled. And Crystal loves even more that she was able to help her mother's dream come true. Owning her own restaurant.

She rounds the corner and pulls an apron from the stack on a wire shelf - thankful that they'd been delivered the day before by the company who washes them - to find her mother glaring at her cellphone, standing in front of the oven. "What's up?"

"Freddy called out," she says, and that's when Crystal sees that her mother's wearing an apron as well. "His daughter's got strep throat, and his wife-"

"She's got that big interview today for that tech job," Crystal finishes. The restaurant is a close-knit family, just the way she likes it. They all know what's going on in each other's lives, and Freddy's wife getting this job would mean that things would finally be looking up for him. But having her sous chef call out like this is really going to test her ability to run the kitchen. Luckily, the pressure is something she looks forward to while she sips at her tea. It brings back memories of the days at Totsuki, once again. The drive needed to succeed. The determination to never give up. The powerful presence she needs to have in the kitchen to make sure everything runs smoothly. With a slow grin, Crystal ties her apron on and takes long strides over to the oven, setting her cup down on the shelf where she always keeps her drink. Once she's beside her mother, she says, "I've got this, Mom. Go and start prepping. And have Maria call Mitch to see if he'll be willing to come in early today."

"You want him to work a double?" She can hear the hesitation in her mother's voice, and she understands it. They really do try not to work the employees to the bone. The only problem is that it's a Tuesday, and the lunch shift is going to be insane. It always is.

"If it slows down enough, I'll handle the kitchen on my own, and he can dip out," she says. "We can't sacrifice customer service, but it should be fine by dinner."

Her mother nods, walking off toward the front to talk with Maria. "I'll call Freddy back and see if he can just come in during dinner if we need him then." She wanted to own a restaurant, knowing that it would be hard - Crystal's grandfather had proven that time and again with his own Italian restaurant - and Crystal is going to make sure nothing changes that. They won't have a horrible day, just from being understaffed.

Because while the restaurant is her mother's… this kitchen is hers to command. Years ago, she would have balked at the responsibility of running an entire kitchen. Not now. Now, she has experience under her belt and this burning desire to make the best food imaginable for their customers. She stands before the stove with her hands on her hips, and runs through the inventory and the recipes she has memorized from their homemade cookbook, sitting on the shelf just above the prep area behind her.

She can do this. If she's learned anything from her time at Totsuki, it's that nothing will stop her from pushing forward.

* * *

By the time Ryo reached Hokotomi's Eatery, scents of freshly baked goods wafted out of the open windows, drawing the attention and intrigue of passersby. The restaurant was still technically closed for another two hours, so he went around the back and pressed the buzzer for the employee door. The locking mechanism clicked and he opened the door, only to be blasted in the face with the smell of perfectly risen yeast, baked apples and cinnamon, and chocolate. So much chocolate.

He pushed his hands into his pockets and went to the kitchen, only to find the crew prepping food for the day and setting up the makeline. Crystal was nowhere to be seen, but he knew based on how this place smelled like a bakery, she was there. Somewhere.

He was still trying to figure out what they could do to improve the restaurant while pulling on an apron, washing his hands, and grabbing a bucket of already brined fish to check their stock for the day. The menu was the easiest thing to work on, but there wasn't really anything _wrong_ with the food being served. Maybe it just needed a little bit of a kick in the spice department. Considering he'd taken time to review his own knowledge of spices after he'd seen how insane Akira's nose was in breaking down those ratios, Ryo was confident they could improve the flavor immensely. Which meant he and Crystal would need to sit down after hours and go over the menu.

They only had five more days at this place, and if they didn't sort this issue out, then both of them would be getting the boot.

"Chef Ryo," came a soft, shaking voice from behind him - one of the other cooks in the kitchen. He hummed and dug his hands into the bucket, letting the fish run over his skin to check the consistency. He hadn't been the one to make this solution, but it seemed to be a little high on water. "W-We really need Crystal. She's been in the office for ten minutes already, and she still has prepping to do."

"So go get her," he mumbled. With a sigh, he grabbed a fish from the bottom of the bucket and laid it on a nearby cutting board. He bent down and poked it, staring lazily at the way the scales bent under the pressure.

"W-Well, I would, but… she's trying to convince Hokotomi-san-"

Ryo stood and looked from the fish to the brine bucket, then back. He picked up a nearby knife and carefully sliced down the belly, then went about filleting it. There wasn't nearly enough salt in this solution. The fish was already starting to dry out, and when it was put on the grill, it would just end up flaking off in the worst ways while they tried to cook it. Finally, his gaze lifted from the poor excuse of a fish to the woman still rambling at his shoulder. "She baked?" he asked.

Makiko nodded, a lock of sky blue hair falling from behind her ear. She pointed over to the doorway that led to the dining area. "Everything's out there so the customers can see it when they come in."

Ryo handed her the knife he'd been using on the fish. "Cook this and plate it. I want to test something in a minute."

She seemed surprised that he wasn't screaming at her, but he wasn't wearing his bandana right then. That was tucked into his pocket for the time being - he'd known that he was going to be messing with the fish, and really didn't feel like having it reek all day. Ryo walked away without another word and washed his hands again, then pushed through the door to the dining area.

Everything looked the same as before. It was all clean from the night before. The wait staff were setting up fresh napkins and cutlery, double-checking their supplies. It didn't take long to figure out what Makiko had been talking about though. Beside the register was a display case that usually held the low quality desserts Mr. Hokotomi served. They were nothing special to look at, let alone _taste_. Except those were nowhere to be found. Instead, the case was filled with cakes topped with strawberries and chocolate drizzle. Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with green and yellow and robin blue icing. Two pies with simple lattice toppings, one apple and one blueberry. Several loaves of bread with yellow and white glaze over the tops of them. And then scores of miniature cupcakes, perfectly bite-sized, iced, and topped with small multi-colored sprinkles. It was a whole lot more appealing to look at, that was for sure.

This had to have been what he was smelling. And knowing that the only person who knew how to make a decent dessert was Crystal, Ryo was left wondering how she'd managed to pull this off. Had she really had enough time to make all of this stuff?

' _How_ _is that even possible?'_

He turned and started walking toward the office, then paused. Crystal was there in front of the open office door with her back to him, her hands crossed in front of her, bowing her head. And silent.

"If I've told you once, I've said it a hundred times," Mr. Hokotomi groaned, finally coming into view. "We don't need some dessert menu. What we have is fine."

"But, sir, the survey we did-"

"Isn't important! I know what my customers want!"

"What they want is-"

"And what _I_ want is for you to get back to work! Stop wasting my time with this nonsense and do what you're told!" He slammed the office door in her face, and Ryo's head tilted with curiosity when he saw her hands fist at her sides. He couldn't see her face though, so he hadn't a clue what she was going to do.

She turned away and stalked back toward the kitchen, and that was when he saw it. She looked ready to explode. Her face was red and her eyes glistened with tears he was sure she was only barely managing to keep back. He'd seen that look on Alice's face a number of times before, when one of her recipes didn't pan out. Those times usually ended with Alice locking herself in her room and crying for an hour.

He hated that look.

Except, Crystal didn't run away. She went to the kitchen and started working on preparing her station for the morning shift.

With a soft sigh, Ryo followed her. They were supposed to work together for this challenge, he supposed. He'd been lucky to not have a partner the week before. It meant he could do things his way, and that was that. But now he actually had to work with someone, and her idea really wasn't half bad. By the time he was close enough to her, he could hear her muttering under her breath while working around the plated, cooked fish that Makiko had made for him to test. So, instead of saying a word, he grabbed the plate and took a bite of the fish. Just as he'd expected, it was dry. Not unbearably so, but enough that he could tell. And there was no way he was letting something of this quality come out of a kitchen he was working in. Except Crystal was still right there. Mumbling in English, of all things. And Ryo only just understood what she was saying.

"Stupid fucking cockmunch. Your dessert tastes like ass, that's why people hate coming here at all. But _no_ … you know what to do, right? Because _you're_ a great chef, right? Go eat another cookie, you moron…"

It actually took quite a bit of effort not to laugh. The last thing Ryo had expected was something like _that_ coming from her. She seemed so composed all the time, always so polite and respectful. He really couldn't blame her though. She couldn't stand up for herself when in a confrontation, but apparently, she liked to fume after the fact. "Crystal," he said, watching as she jumped and squeaked in alarm. She whirled in place and looked up at him with wide, horrified eyes. Ryo held up the fork with a bite of the fish on it. "Tell me how this tastes."

"Wh-What?"

He didn't repeat himself, instead shoving the fork into her mouth. Her brows furrowed in a glare at him, but she chewed all the same. And she focused on the flavor of it all. He could tell by the sudden pinch in her brow and how she didn't look away from him. She wasn't looking at _him_ though, but through him. Singling out the flavors, searching for what was wrong with the fish she was eating.

Finally, she swallowed. "It's kind of dry," she said.

Ryo nodded, taking another bite of the fish. The taste was there, and the brine definitely helped to lock the flavor in. But it could be better.

"I don't understand," she said, taking the fork from him and getting another bite for herself. "It shouldn't be dry like this."

"Who did the brine?" he asked. Her cheeks flushed as she stared at him, wide-eyed. "You did it."

Crystal nodded slowly, looking back down at the fork while he put another bite of fish to his lips. "I did it wrong?"

Ryo hummed, letting go of the fork when she took it from him again. "Not enough salt in the mixture."

"But I followed the recipe."

"Did you test it with a potato?" Crystal jolted and stared at him again, almost as though he'd lost his mind entirely. "I'll show you later." He left the fish with her and turned away to wash his hands again. They still needed to finish prepping, and he was sure that any minute, Mr. Hokotomi was going to come waddling out of his office, demanding Crystal's desserts be removed and thrown out. Almost as soon as he'd thought it, the rotund restaurant owner threw open his office door.

"Crystal, get that garbage out of my display case, and put the right desserts in." She didn't answer him, and instead kept sorting her spices and sharpening her knives. "Crystal!"

"Sir!" she shouted back, acting as though she was already fully immersed in her work in the kitchen.

Ryo pulled his bandana from his back pocket and tied it on, the tension on his scalp rippling down the length of his spine, then grabbed a knife to start filleting fish for the day.

* * *

Oh, she was more than done with the way Mr. Hokotomi was talking to her. The way he'd talked to her ever since she showed up at his door with her slip from the school saying she was assigned to work for him during the Stagiaire.

"Get over here, right now!"

What Crystal wouldn't give to tell him to shove it. But the last thing she needed was to get expelled. So, with a heavy sigh, she tossed the rag she'd been using to wipe down the counter, then turned and made her way back to the office again. She could feel everyone's eyes on her as soon as she stopped in front of the restaurant's owner. "Yes, sir?" she asked, trying with everything she was worth to keep her temper in check.

"I told you to get rid of that garbage," he said, pointing to the dining area. "Grab the stuff from the refrigerator and set it out. I told you, we're not changing the dessert menu."

"Sir, if you'd just listen," she said slowly. "The people Ryo and I surveyed said that they don't _like_ the desserts here. They can tell that it's not freshly made, and with how much you charge-"

"There's nothing wrong with my prices," he spat.

"You're charging as though they're being made here," she countered. "Sir, if you just give it a shot-"

"No!" he bellowed. "You'll do as I say, or I'll contact that school of yours and tell them that you're not doing your job here. Do you want to get yourself expelled?"

"My job here is to improve your business," she said. "But I can't do that if-"

"You can't do that at all! I don't need you here, and you know it."

What an asshole. Punching him in the face was looking more and more appealing by the second, but that was a surefire way to get sent back to the States. "If you'd just give it a chance, sir-"

"Enough!"

Good lord, she was starting to get _really_ tired of being cut off. But she knew, in his culture, she was supposed to defer to him. He was technically her employer, and he was older than her. His age alone afforded him a level of respect that his behavior didn't really deserve. Before she could make her shoulders relax, and find a nice way to tell Mr. Hokotomi to go die in a fire, a strong, burning presence behind her drew Crystal's attention.

"Why don't you just shut up already, old man!" Ryo bellowed. She turned and her eyes blew wide when she saw him standing just behind her with a half-gutted fish in one hand and a knife in the other. She could practically see the fire and fury leaking off of Ryo as he glared at Mr. Hokotomi. "She's wasting more time arguing with you over this bullshit when she should be in the kitchen!"

"That's what I tried to tell her," Mr. Hokotomi huffed.

"No, you're telling her that she's not allowed to do the one thing we're both even here for. Fixing up your shitty little hole in the wall!"

"And you mean to tell me some little American girl can appease my Japanese customers?" he scoffed. "She doesn't know the first thing about us."

With a heavy glare of her own, Crystal turned back to him. That's what this was about? She wasn't _Japanese_ enough to be of any real use? This had absolutely nothing to do with where she came from. Her ability to bake, to be a real chef, didn't depend on her being from Japan. And so what if she sometimes didn't know a word for something in Japanese? She was self-taught, picking things up from the people around her. She was trying, damnit. But he didn't want to see any of that. All he saw was an American, someone he hated for a reason she didn't even want to try guessing at. But that was the last straw for her. Something deep within her snapped to attention at the way he was glaring down at her. If he wanted to act this way, then his own country's customs could suck it. She was done with playing nice.

"My baking is top notch," she spat while roughly untying her apron. "You're lucky I'm even willing to help you at all with-"

"I don't care," Mr. Hokotomi began, only to stop when she threw the apron at his face.

"Shut up!" she bellowed. "You wanna shit on me for being an American and say I don't know a thing about your people, then fine. Be like that. But I'm not here for you, and I'll be damned if your close-minded _bullshit_ is going to stop me from getting what I want!"

Mr. Hokotomi pushed the apron into her chest hard enough for her to take a step back. But only one, because Ryo was still standing there behind her. And suddenly, she was flush against his chest, feeling his heart's steady beat and his warmth, and defined muscles no teenager should have.

"Get back to work in the kitchen. I'll handle it myself."

"You touch my cakes and you'll be sorry," she said. Where this sudden fire raging in her chest had come from, she didn't know, but that didn't stop her from letting it feed her words with a strength that she didn't usually have.

"What are you going to do, _gaijin_?"

There was a round of appalled gasps from the kitchen staff, and even Ryo went rigid behind her. Sure, Crystal knew the word. It was kind of hard _not_ to know what one of the biggest ethnic slurs in Japanese was, especially since she really was a foreigner. But unlike a lot of people she knew who would be utterly livid over his comment, she just smiled. She pulled the apron from him and threw it on the ground instead. Feeling Ryo against her back was oddly comforting, making her just a little more confident as she spoke again. "You're absolutely right," she said. "I'm a _gaijin_ , and I'm tired of trying to play by your rules. So from now on, we're doing this _my_ way!"

And then she turned and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Mr. Hokotomi staring after her with his mouth hanging open. And Ryo still holding a knife in one hand and a fish in the other while Makiko slyly took a picture of the whole scene on her phone - one that she would send to Crystal before the two left the restaurant at the end of the week.

"Let her do her job, old man," Ryo spat before tossing the knife and fish on a nearby counter and stomping out after her. "And you! Get back in here! You've got work to do!"

"Shut up, Ryo!" Crystal shouted. The store was about to open, and she was going to make sure Mr. Hokotomi saw undeniable proof that her idea could work. Her desserts were going to be a hit. She'd made sure they were simple enough to be made by a beginner - as long as they followed the instructions - and that the decorations were elegant, but easy. Everything was easy on the palate, sweet and a little on the boring side - she would much rather have been making something more challenging, like a mashed potato and beef cupcake.

"Don't tell me to shut up, woman!"

She pulled a tray of miniature cupcakes out from the display case, and shouldered past him. "Then stop yelling at me and open that door! He wants to be an ass, then fine. I'm gonna make him eat his words!"

Ryo grinned when their eyes locked, a dark and malicious turn to his lips that had her stomach twisting itself in knots for a moment. "Little _Kessho_ got a spine. That's what I like to see," he laughed. He opened the door for her to a crowd of people who were still milling about, smelling the results of her baking that morning.

"Hokotomi's Eatery has a new dessert menu!" Crystal called out, smiling at the enthusiastic mumbling in the crowd. "Freshly baked this morning! Come try a free sample, and let us know what you think!"

Customers flocked to the restaurant after that. Once the tray ran out, Crystal rushed back inside and into the kitchen, then right back to her station to get to work on her portion of the daily specials. And every time she caught sight of Mr. Hokotomi, she couldn't help but grin. Because he looked beyond pissed over how many customers had sampled her desserts, and how many more ordered them.

It served him right.

"Three lunch specials down," Ryo called out. "Don't dry out that fish, or I'll come over there and beat you with it, Kessho!"

"Fish beating heard, chef!" Crystal called out, grinning over her shoulder at him. And he grinned right back with a dark gleam in his eyes.

* * *

"Chef Ryo, we're down to the last tray of cupcakes and half of the apple pie is already gone," said one of the waitresses when she brought back another ticket.

"Keep upselling the desserts," he snarled at her, watching as she squeaked and grabbed the order he'd just put up in the window, then rushed back to the dining area. "Kessho!"

Crystal paused in plating the clams for her order, turning toward him with a confused frown. "Chef?"

"Get off the line and bake some more!" Ryo shouted. "Makiko, take over for her."

"But you'll be alone on the line here!" Makiko gasped when he glared down at her. Did she really think he couldn't handle expediting orders and making the damn salads? Honestly, he could do half of the work in this kitchen on his own without sacrificing service for the customers. "Y-Yes, Chef!"

Ryo turned to look at Crystal, who was staring up at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. Finally, he smiled, but it wasn't kind or gentle. There was no room for that in the kitchen. Ryo was fully aware of how intimidating he looked like this. It was something he'd perfected when he was still working in that pub in Denmark, but apparently seeing it lit a fire inside her, because she was suddenly smiling right back at him. And when he spoke again, that little flame of confidence burned its way up to her emerald eyes, lighting them up even further. "You wanna make him eat his words? Let's sell the place out, and have them begging for more!"

"Desserts heard, Chef," she said with a single nod. She rushed off to a metal table tucked in the corner that had been holding the spare pots and pans the day before. He hadn't realized it had been cleared off at all until she stopped in front of it and began pulling out large bowls and ingredients. "Someone get the oven to one-eighty!"

"Oven heard," Makiko said from Crystal's recently vacated station.

Ryo looked down at the ticket in front of him once again, and got back to work. "Another three lunch specials down," he yelled. "Two sub salad for clams. One of those with extra red pepper."

"Specials heard!" the staff called out.

Plates came up to the line rapidfire, and Ryo split his time between making the salads and checking the orders before they went out the window. It all ran smoothly, even with Crystal rushing between people with two cupcake trays on each arm toward the oven.

"Right behind," she said before Makiko could bump into her. "Open it up!"

Ryo turned and pulled the oven open, and his eyes flashed with surprise when he saw how she handled herself around the heat. Crystal slid the first two trays in on the bottom rack, and didn't miss a beat as the other two trays slid down her arms toward her hands, setting them on the upper rack. "Time?"

"Twenty-one minutes and fifteen seconds," she said, already turning back to her impromptu baking station. "Nothing more."

She got to work on another batch of something, and Ryo returned to his own station. Everything was running without a single hiccup. Just the way he liked it. The kitchen was bustling, and none of the staff buckled under the pressure. It was almost as though they'd been waiting for this moment. Like they were already mentally prepared for the increased business, even though it was dead more often than not.

As the service went on, he found himself watching Crystal every chance he got. Even with orders being called out and his own barking voice carrying across the kitchen, she never wavered in her task. She was calm, steady as she worked on laying a lattice crust over a pie he hadn't seen her mixing. Her hands never shook while she measured ingredients. But while most people would take their time scraping the excess flour from the cup, she didn't. No, instead, he watched her scoop up the flour, smack the side of the measuring cup one time, then pour it into the bowl. She wasn't slow with this, something that was clearly her comfort zone. No, she was finally confident. There was a presence about her, something that was quiet but powerful as she darted over to the oven and switched out the baked cupcakes for the pies. Even while she mixed icing and her fingers and hands ended up stained with food coloring, it was clear that she was in her own little world.

"We're out of cupcakes," another waitress called out. "And table two ordered five of the chocolate."

"Coming up," Crystal called back. The fact that she'd spoken at all was a surprise to Ryo. But he was able to take a brief moment to watch her with his full attention as she picked up a piping bag half-full of canary yellow icing. With a quick, expert flick of her hand holding the cupcake and the perfect amount of pressure on the bag, it was iced before he even knew what she'd done.

In no time, five chocolate cupcakes sat on the table, decorated and ready to be taken to the customers. But she didn't stop there. Suddenly, she became her very own confectionery whirlwind, icing cupcakes and adding sprinkles to them with so much grace, with such finesse, that he was stricken into silence. Not even the bandana that tugged on his hair to keep him grounded in the moment was able to pull his voice out of him. Not when he saw this girl, so much smaller than he was, so shy before that day, churning out treats as though she would die if she stopped to even breathe.

And when he finally snapped out of it, Ryo was left wondering if that was what other people saw when he was working.

* * *

Crystal shook her head and let out a happy sigh while she and Ryo walked down the street that night, back to their motel rooms. She'd been smiling since the lunch shift, when she'd been told to only bake for the rest of the day. And even now, when it was well past ten at night, she was still over the moon. Because she'd won. Mr. Hokotomi hadn't been able to deny the truth of her words after he saw the business that had come pouring in, all because of her desserts. They still had work to do that week, but he'd conceded defeat and agreed to buy whatever ingredients she needed to continue baking and testing recipes with the customers as the week continued. She'd _won_.

"Wanna run through the numbers and make another draft of the dessert menu?" she asked, finally looking over at Ryo. His arms were full of the leftovers from her baking that day, but he didn't even seem to notice the weight of it all.

He hummed, but didn't say a word otherwise. She still found it so strange, how drastic a change there was between him like this and when he wore his bandana in the kitchen. Part of her wondered if it was only in the kitchen that he was like that. Or maybe the bandana was magical, and turned him into a beast. Well, that was just silly. There was no such thing as magic.

Once they reached the motel, she looked up at him while opening the door. Except he didn't walk through it first. Instead, he stood there, watching her, and put his foot in front of the door to hold it open while she walked inside.

"So, I'll um… get a quick shower, then… meet you in your room?" she mumbled.

"Mm," he said, nodding. And that was it. He walked away after that, toward his room, leaving Crystal standing in the lobby and shaking her head once again. While walking to her own room and getting ready for a shower, she thought back to what he'd taught her when they were the only ones in the restaurant, prepping the fish brine for the next day.

She'd never known that someone could use a peeled potato to test the density of the brine. If it floated to the top, then she needed to add more water. If it sank to the bottom, then the solution needed more salt. And Ryo - without his headband, thankfully - had crouched down beside her and showed her the perfect spot on the bucket for the potato to sit at. He hadn't just done it himself, but forced her through the steps of mixing the water, salt and sugar according to his own recipe in the bucket until it dissolved. Then came the white wine vinegar and olive oil - both of which weren't on the recipe she'd been using in the first place - then sliced onions and garlic, pepper, and then ice. Once it was all mixed properly, he dropped in the potato, and they slowly adjusted the ratios until the potato was in just the right spot. Just like he'd showed her.

And Ryo had said they would test the fish the next morning, so she could taste the difference for herself.

With a gentle sigh, she stepped out of the shower and got herself dressed in a pair of sleeping shorts and a tank top, then wrapped herself up in her robe. It was already late, and as soon as they were done, Crystal planned on collapsing in her own bed and crashing for the night. Not having to change would definitely be a plus. She already had several recipes written down in a notebook on her nightstand that she was planning on using for the restaurant, so she grabbed it and made her way over to Ryo's room.

He answered the door before she could knock, and Crystal was left standing in the doorway, her cheeks lighting up with a soft blush, as he walked away from her with only a pair of pajama pants on. Still drying his hair from his own shower. Thankfully, she didn't make a complete fool out of herself while stumbling in after him. Or maybe he just didn't notice that her feet decided to not function properly.

The room was identical to her own with only one bed in the center of the left wall. When Ryo took a seat at the foot of the bed, and she saw the food they'd brought back with them set in the middle, she found herself smiling while walking over to sit down beside him. She picked up a miniature cupcake while taking stock of the desserts that were left, not noticing how Ryo flipped his own upside down so the icing hit his tongue first, or how his eyes closed in bliss for a moment.

"Well, the mini-cupcakes were a hit," she said around her food. "The kids seemed to really like them."

Ryo looked at the food that was spread out, and picked up a fork to stab at one of the two slices of apple pie left. "How many apple pies did you make?"

"Seven in total."

"Maybe plan for ten tomorrow," he said. "Return customers would be a plus."

Crystal nodded and wrote it down, then frowned while grabbing the second fork and taking a bite of the nearly complete blueberry pie. "No one seemed to like the blueberry."

"Make another one, just in case," he mumbled. "Three slices came out of it."

That was true. There was a strong possibility that customers had just really wanted the cupcakes instead. But maybe the next day, more people would want the blueberry pie. She watched Ryo put the fork down, then grab another cupcake. And this time, Crystal saw him flip it upside down to eat it with the icing first. She couldn't stop herself from giggling when his eyes opened again.

"Something funny?" he asked while still chewing.

She shook her head, but didn't stop laughing. And when all he did was stare at her, chewing even slower than before, she finally said, "My _Nonni_ eats them the same way."

Ryo blinked. " _Nonni_?"

"Oh, um…" It wasn't the first time she'd failed to translate something into Japanese, but for some reason she drew a blank on what the word was. She was sure he understood English as well, since it was a required course in Japanese schools, and even some of the recipes they had to read were written in English, but she refused to take the easy route. "It's um… what's the word…"

"A person?"

Crystal nodded, frowning as she took a bite of apple pie. "He's related to… _Haha_?" She never really practiced talking about her family all that much. And she knew that there were different words depending on how the speaker was related to the person.

"Your mom."

"Yeah, he's her… um… _Otou-san_?"

"Ah, her dad." Crystal nodded quickly, and she smiled when he supplied her with the word that had completely slipped her mind. " _Ojisan_. Your grandfather."

"Yes!" she laughed. Sometimes she hated that this wasn't her first language. Things would be so much easier if she didn't struggle to remember words sometimes. "He eats cupcakes like that all the time, because his favorite part is the icing."

Ryo hummed and ate another miniature cupcake the same way as before, clearly unfazed by her taking notice of his eating habits. "I didn't know that was the English word for grandfather."

"Oh, it's not," she chuckled. "He emigrated from Italy to the United States when he was twenty, so me and all my cousins call him Nonni." They both ate another cupcake. "My mom and her sisters call him Nonni Giuseppe when we're around though."

Ryo nodded again. "What's this one?" he asked, pointing to one of the loaves of bread with a yellow glaze on it.

"Lemon poppy seed pound cake with a lemon glaze," she said. He broke a piece of it off the corner and popped it into his mouth, but there was no outward reaction whatsoever. She had to assume that no one had wanted to even try it, considering the entire loaf was still there. It was the same with the other pound cake she'd made. Granted, they were much more dense than a normal cake, and probably not the best choice for a dessert after the customers had filled up on their main courses.

"Too heavy."

"The recipe?" she asked, wide-eyed while turning toward him fully with her legs crossed. She felt the soft fabric of his pajamas brush against her bare knees, and nearly keeled over right then. If he hadn't looked at her, she probably would have vaulted off the bed just to make sure they weren't touching. The last thing she needed to do was turn into some hormonal teenage girl - regardless of actually _being_ a teenage girl - when she was working with Ryo Kurokiba, of all people. Having a crush on him was even more out of the question. He belonged to Alice, and everyone knew that. And Crystal definitely didn't have a death wish.

Ryo shook his head and took another bite of the pound cake. "No, after eating. This is too heavy for dessert."

She hadn't realized that her heart had been pounding until she relaxed again. Because all Crystal could think about was that her recipe was a complete failure, and she hadn't known it until Ryo pointed it out to her. Except that wasn't the case. Her dessert was fine. Or, well, it was alright enough for him to keep eating it, at least. That had to count for something.

Ryo looked down to the notepad in her lap, then slowly took it from her. He'd moved slow enough that she could have stopped him, if it hadn't been for her stupid, stupid body locking up. Or the chocolate cupcake she'd just shoved in her mouth that nearly flew down her windpipe. He didn't open it, but read the word _Recipes_ that she'd written across the top in English.

It was a small comfort that he didn't open it. She was actually very happy to know that he wasn't rude enough to assume she didn't mind him reading her own recipes. They weren't really anything special, since these were specifically for Hokotomi's Eatery, but still. It was the principle of the thing.

"You can look," Crystal said once she'd found her voice. And once he had permission, Ryo opened the book and started reading through it. The only change in his expression, aside from eating another bite of the pound cake, was a small, concentrated pinch between his brows.

"You should try this one," he said, showing her the page.

"Doughnut holes?" she asked with a frown. Honestly, she'd been scouring her brain for ideas that were easy to make. That hadn't even been a serious thought, but considering how few options she'd had, Crystal had written it down. "How come?"

"Put them on a stick, and it'll look like dango," he said.

Her eyes lit up in an instant. "And the more traditional crowd will be willing to give it a shot," she said. "It's closer to what they're already used to, and then they can be wowed by how different it is." Sure, there were doughnuts in Japan, that wasn't anything new, but the presentation of glazed doughnut holes to look like dango was something she hadn't personally seen before. Maybe no one in the area would have seen it either.

And if she could come up with some interesting flavors for them, then it would be even better.

He hummed again, something she was sure meant he agreed, and handed her the book. Not a moment later, he picked up his fork again and went right back to eating the apple pie while they kept working out the kinks of their project.

* * *

Ryo had no idea what time it was. Sometime after midnight, most likely. He and Crystal had eaten every bite of sweet, delectable goodness that they'd brought back to the motel. They'd figured out the newest version of the dessert menu that she was going to try for the next day's service, and he'd even put his two cents in on how to spice up the menu to make it more appealing to the customers.

There really wasn't much more that they could do, he figured. At some point after he threw away the empty containers, they'd both laid down and continued their conversation. She was still looking through the notes she'd been taking while they'd talked. Well, she mostly talked and he agreed with her. It was easier that way.

But it was quiet now. Not too quiet. He actually liked this comfortable silence that had fallen over his room. But he was exhausted, and he figured she probably was as well. Especially considering the fact that when he'd asked her how she was able to get so much done that morning, she'd told him that she went to the restaurant at four in the morning to start working.

She'd already been up for nearly twenty-four hours. She definitely needed to get some sleep.

"We'll need to figure out the training stuff for this new menu," Crystal said around a yawn.

"I'll do that." His gaze slid over to her, and he found her still reading through her notes while she quietly chuckled.

"Don't come near my desserts with all that bandana rage," she sighed. Her eyes closed in a long blink, then barely opened to keep running over the page.

Still, he didn't look away from her. Even as he hummed and her full lips turned up just a little more while her eyes closed again. When they opened, he said, "Keep feeding me, then."

She laughed, well and truly laughed, while closing the notebook around her finger to keep her place and smacking his arm with it. He barely even felt it connect though. He didn't laugh along with her, and instead just watched as her heavy lids finally won the battle for sleep, closing over exhaustion-dulled green eyes.

' _She has a nice laugh…'_

It was a throaty sound that was so at odds with her soft, high voice. He almost let himself wonder what it would sound like if she really laughed. If she heard a joke that was funny enough for her to double over and clutch at her sides. For some reason, he could see her snorting when she laughed hard enough. He wasn't sure why though.

But as her breathing evened out, and her small, tired smile faded while she drifted further into dreamland, Ryo realized he didn't want to look away from her.

For the first time, he'd met someone who didn't cower in fear of him. Not when he wore his bandana, and not when he was normal. She snapped to attention in the kitchen when he ordered her to do something, but there had been that moment earlier when she'd finally yelled back at the jackass who was running the restaurant. And she'd yelled at Ryo too. It was different from the way Alice spoke to him. Even when she was ordering him around, there was this air of superiority that came from her lineage. He could feel the difference in their classes just by standing next to her sometimes.

But with Crystal, they were on equal ground. She didn't talk down to him. She didn't really talk down to anybody from what he could tell.

His gaze traced the slope of her nose, how it lifted just a little at the tip, then down to her full, wide lips. Her high cheekbones and the barely noticeable lift at the outer corners of her eyes. He never looked away from her face, even when she sighed and rolled onto her side, facing him completely, and the blue terry cloth robe she'd put on slid open just enough to reveal her tank top.

' _She's pretty…'_

This was painfully familiar, he realized. Except this time, it wasn't the middle of the night and he wasn't on the verge of falling asleep again. This time, she wasn't watching him, but the other way around. And this time, he knew that he really was awake when he pulled the notebook from her hand and set it on the nightstand just behind him. It wasn't like he was planning on doing anything with her. Alice would kill him, if nothing else. She was weirdly possessive of his time more often than not, but it wasn't as though he really took the time to look anywhere else but at his goal of graduating from Totsuki. Okay, and kicking Yukihira's ass in a Food War. Akira, too. But both of those victories would put him steps closer to reaching his goal, so it was all fine.

He shifted until the blanket was out from under him, and carefully draped it over Crystal while she slept. And once he was sure she wouldn't move again, Ryo laid back and looked at the ceiling until his eyes grew heavy and he fell asleep as well.

He wouldn't realize it at the time, but when only three hours had passed, Crystal would wake up silently and smile over the blanket he'd given her. She would crawl out of the bed and settle the blanket back over him, then creep out of the room and back to her own to get dressed. He wouldn't have a single clue that she was at the restaurant at four in the morning, starting on the baking for the day.

Just as Crystal wouldn't be any the wiser that Ryo, once she was out of the room, turned toward the pillow she'd slept on and pulled it into his chest with a content sigh of _Kessho_ on his lips.

* * *

By the time Crystal reaches her apartment door, she's dead on her feet. The day had been hell and then some, but it's worth it. She reminds herself every single night that this really is worth it all. She unlocks the door and trudges inside, flicking on lights as she makes her way past the dark kitchen - where she really should be stopping to eat something - and over to her living room. Well, it's really her bedroom, if she's being completely honest with herself.

It's not like she has tons of money to pay for anything more than a studio apartment. She probably would if she didn't like having a _time to splurge on a vacation_ savings account that she'd yet to touch in the five years she'd been putting money into it. Then again, it's not like she really needs it for anything. She's not planning on taking a trip anytime soon, and it's not like she has anywhere she really wants to go.

Her travelling days are done, and now she's settled down in her mother's restaurant, doing what she'd always wanted to do.

"Ugh, why did she have to pull out that stupid scrapbook?" Crystal groans while collapsing face-first onto her bed. The same bed that sits where a normal person would probably have put a couch.

Ever since her mother had pulled that scrapbook out, she's been thinking about Ryo again. Nonstop. It's painful to think about him, and it's just a little sad too, she realizes, because they knew hardly anything about each other. And she still has feelings for him after all this time. It's stupid to feel this way, she knows, but she can't help it. Every single time she looks at a picture of Ryo, it all comes back to her.

The way he used to just grunt his responses. How slow he talked, and how much it irked the people around him when they were in a hurry. The gravelly tone of his voice when that red bandana was wrapped around his head. Most of all, she remembers his eyes - tired though they may have been - and how brilliant and red they were. She remembers his lips, and how they stretched into that wicked grin while he bellowed orders to the kitchen staff at Hokotomi's Eatery. How it had sounded when he called her _Kessho_.

That's the memory that has her throat clogging and her knees drawing up to her chest. Her Japanese really hadn't been spectacular back then - it was enough to get by, but it was pathetic compared to what she knew now - and she hadn't known until years later just what he'd been calling her. _Kessho_. A simpler way to say _Crystal_. Her very own nickname that was still just her name, but somehow special. Maybe it's because it came from _him_. Ryo was the only one who had called her that. She laughs when thinking about the first time she'd met Yukihira and Megumi, how Yukihira had tried to call her Kessho, only for Ryo to quite literally bash him over the head with a halibut. He hadn't said a word about it at the time, but she likes to think that it was his way of saying that word, that name, was reserved solely for him.

But the day he'd first called her that, was the day she'd gotten her confidence that had only grown. She'd finally stood up for herself to Mr. Hokotomi, taken control of what was happening. And every time she saw Ryo after that day, he called her that. He never said her real name again.

"God, I'm pathetic," she mutters into her pillow. She knows it's true too, because who in their right mind would be hung up on a crush from high school, when they haven't seen the person in seven years? She barely hears her computer ding where it sits on the small IKEA desk in the corner, letting her know that she has a new message on Facebook. She's too tired to get up and check it though, so it'll just have to wait until later.

For now, Crystal just wants to wallow for a few minutes, and then pass out. She has to be up at four in the morning, and there's no way she can function on only a few hours of sleep like she used to.


End file.
